In the meantime - I really need to figure out what to do with the thousands of dollars in unsewn fabric, thread, needles, embroidery thread, stabilizer, ribbon, tapestry, sewing machine carry cases (two - one bought on clearance), scissors, rotary cutters, and so forth in my sewing room. Well - I'm pretty sure that I've spent more than $2000 just on the sewing machines, serger, and embroidery machine - plus the tables for them - I'm just not sure how much more by the time you add the cutting table, the book case, the dressmaker's dummy, the pattern drafting software, and sew forth & sew on.

That is your stash. You are not required to do anything with your stash. It just exists, and makes your house a happier place by radiating stash vibes through the walls. (I believe it's a Feng Shui thing.)

My favourite fabric store has signs up that explain this philosophy, and I've seen tshirts on the theme too:

I bought some naked Barbies off eBay to play with sew clothes for...just in case I have a granddaughter instead of a grandson next. It takes TIME to make a complete wardrobe for that doll...and too many outfits is never a problem for Barbie!

In the meantime - I like sewing new clothes for Barbie...and they have to be tried on to make sure that they fit. One of them is supersized and one is "my sized" (18" and 36" - so 1.5x the usual size and 3x the usual size). The My Size Barbie is a proportionate size 10 Misses (USA) and lots of seamstresses sew mockups of final designs at that size (quarter scale) to see how they are going to turn out looking...

In the meantime - I really need to figure out what to do with the thousands of dollars in unsewn fabric, thread, needles, embroidery thread, stabilizer, ribbon, tapestry, sewing machine carry cases (two - one bought on clearance), scissors, rotary cutters, and so forth in my sewing room. Well - I'm pretty sure that I've spent more than $2000 just on the sewing machines, serger, and embroidery machine - plus the tables for them - I'm just not sure how much more by the time you add the cutting table, the book case, the dressmaker's dummy, the pattern drafting software, and sew forth & sew on.

That is quite the epic stash. I'm pretty sure I could be in texas in a couple of days with a Uhaul if you want

Have you thought about making clothes for larger dolls, not just barbies?

I haven't spent money on this... yet... but has anyone seen one of those "breakfast stations" that combines a coffee maker, a hot plate to make eggs, and a toaster oven? I want to know if those really work. Its multi-tasking, yet still specific, nature mesmerizes me.

In the meantime - I really need to figure out what to do with the thousands of dollars in unsewn fabric, thread, needles, embroidery thread, stabilizer, ribbon, tapestry, sewing machine carry cases (two - one bought on clearance), scissors, rotary cutters, and so forth in my sewing room. Well - I'm pretty sure that I've spent more than $2000 just on the sewing machines, serger, and embroidery machine - plus the tables for them - I'm just not sure how much more by the time you add the cutting table, the book case, the dressmaker's dummy, the pattern drafting software, and sew forth & sew on.

That is your stash. You are not required to do anything with your stash. It just exists, and makes your house a happier place by radiating stash vibes through the walls. (I believe it's a Feng Shui thing.)

My favourite fabric store has signs up that explain this philosophy, and I've seen tshirts on the theme too:

PSA: If you want to buy a toy in hopes of it increasing in value, don't give it to your child for Christmas and expect them to never, ever play with it.

On a slightly different tangent, if your kids get toys for Christmas or their birthdays, please let them play with them. Don't stick them up a shelf to be played with later, unless you already have established a pattern of actually doing that.

While we were growing up, the neighbor kids always had to take half of the toys and games that they received as presents and put them in a closet, to be gotten out and played with "later." When they were young adults, their Mom passed away and my Mom went to help their Dad clean out the house a short time after the funeral. In the closet they found dozens of toys and games, all dutifully saved for "later." Hundreds of dollars and possible fun playing time wasted.

This is only a bad idea if "later" never comes. It can be a great way of prolonging interest for kids who tire of their toys to have something new to pull out every few weeks.

PSA: If you want to buy a toy in hopes of it increasing in value, don't give it to your child for Christmas and expect them to never, ever play with it.

On a slightly different tangent, if your kids get toys for Christmas or their birthdays, please let them play with them. Don't stick them up a shelf to be played with later, unless you already have established a pattern of actually doing that.

While we were growing up, the neighbor kids always had to take half of the toys and games that they received as presents and put them in a closet, to be gotten out and played with "later." When they were young adults, their Mom passed away and my Mom went to help their Dad clean out the house a short time after the funeral. In the closet they found dozens of toys and games, all dutifully saved for "later." Hundreds of dollars and possible fun playing time wasted.

This is only a bad idea if "later" never comes. It can be a great way of prolonging interest for kids who tire of their toys to have something new to pull out every few weeks.

I've put Christmas toys away, especially if there's a zillion new toys all at once - they don't all get proper enjoyment at once. Also if they toys are a bit too advanced and the kids will just get frustrated, or the toy will get wrecked before it can be used properly. I have a special cupboard so I don't forget where they are.

The problem with buying toys hoping that they'll be very valuable some day is that it takes great self control not to actually open the box or clip the tags, and it can't really be used and enjoyed without losing it's value.

When I was a kid, one year for Christmas I got some special-edition Barbie. I was instructed to put it up on the shelf and not play with it, so that it would increase in value. I practiced excellent self control for several months, even though her dress was sooo pretty. One day, I was bored and decided to open it. The reaming I got for opening that package! I never even got the Barbie out; it was taken away and carefully glued back together before going back up on a shelf.

Ten or so years later, my mother finally sold it. At a garage sale. For $1.

PSA: If you want to buy a toy in hopes of it increasing in value, don't give it to your child for Christmas and expect them to never, ever play with it.

CakeBeret, that story makes me so sad for little you! That is a really mean thing to do to a child under the guise of "gifting" - yeah, great gift of disappointment and frustration. I think you should go right out and buy yourself the sparkliest, prettiest special edition Barbie you can find and play with her to your heart's content. (No, I'm not an adult woman who owns 2 special edition Barbies (not in the box), why do you ask?)

My mom frequently failed at gifting, but I've gotten over it. I do believe I will be buying some pretty sparkly Barbies for Toys for Tots this year though, kudos to whoever brought that up.

Logged

"From a procrastination standpoint, today has been wildly successful."

I haven't spent money on this... yet... but has anyone seen one of those "breakfast stations" that combines a coffee maker, a hot plate to make eggs, and a toaster oven? I want to know if those really work. Its multi-tasking, yet still specific, nature mesmerizes me.

To me, this kind of thing is actually worse than a one-use item. Because... when the coffee maker part of it breaks (for example), you gotta buy a new coffee maker but your still stuck holding on to the old broken one since it's connected to the toaster oven & hot plate. Or you replace all three when one breaks which is pretty wasteful.

I love the "stash" idea! In that case, I have a stash of notebooks to write future stories in. Thanks to some recent sprees (not sure I've ever spent over $100 at Target before) I have enough to last me... um, yeah, probably forever. Now, notebooks might sound inert in some ways, but I like to get them out and look at them and feel the paper and think about using them, and that makes me happy.

So, okay, $100 on blank notebooks at Target might be a little embarrassing, but I think as long as I don't do it again I should be okay... It would be a lot worse if I bought them and didn't have anywhere to put them in my tiny apartment, which may be the case if I do it again.

I love the "stash" idea! In that case, I have a stash of notebooks to write future stories in. Thanks to some recent sprees (not sure I've ever spent over $100 at Target before) I have enough to last me... um, yeah, probably forever. Now, notebooks might sound inert in some ways, but I like to get them out and look at them and feel the paper and think about using them, and that makes me happy.

So, okay, $100 on blank notebooks at Target might be a little embarrassing, but I think as long as I don't do it again I should be okay... It would be a lot worse if I bought them and didn't have anywhere to put them in my tiny apartment, which may be the case if I do it again.

I have two shopping-related weak points: craft supplies, and stationery. I didn't mention them in this thread before because I regret NOTHING.

I love the "stash" idea! In that case, I have a stash of notebooks to write future stories in. Thanks to some recent sprees (not sure I've ever spent over $100 at Target before) I have enough to last me... um, yeah, probably forever. Now, notebooks might sound inert in some ways, but I like to get them out and look at them and feel the paper and think about using them, and that makes me happy.

So, okay, $100 on blank notebooks at Target might be a little embarrassing, but I think as long as I don't do it again I should be okay... It would be a lot worse if I bought them and didn't have anywhere to put them in my tiny apartment, which may be the case if I do it again.

I have two shopping-related weak points: craft supplies, and stationery. I didn't mention them in this thread before because I regret NOTHING.

I love the "stash" idea! In that case, I have a stash of notebooks to write future stories in. Thanks to some recent sprees (not sure I've ever spent over $100 at Target before) I have enough to last me... um, yeah, probably forever. Now, notebooks might sound inert in some ways, but I like to get them out and look at them and feel the paper and think about using them, and that makes me happy.

So, okay, $100 on blank notebooks at Target might be a little embarrassing, but I think as long as I don't do it again I should be okay... It would be a lot worse if I bought them and didn't have anywhere to put them in my tiny apartment, which may be the case if I do it again.

If I had that much in notebooks, I'd be set for life. I go through old notebooks to find fragments of fanfiction or poetry that I've written, or just to read old random journal entries, and it's always amazing the things I've written. I was actually really sad the other day because I thought I didn't have any blank notebooks to help me study with, and lo and behold, I found two! (As well as a great deal of old fiction that is begging to be uploaded and finished, but that's beside the point.)

As soon as this dingdangity test is over, I have a feeling I'll be working on fiction for a while. Which is good, my muse is coming back.

ETA: I joined Mary Kay for a while. I didn't do it to make money, I did it to get cheap makeup for myself. And you know what, it worked! I made back about half of the initial buy-in cost, which still left me with a ton of product for less than half the price it would have cost me to buy it, so I'm counting it as a win. Also an abject lesson for the future that I am not designed to be in sales.

Shouldn't have been an embarrassment but a combination of circumstances made it that the drum set and (pricey) cymbals I had bought spent more time in their boxes than out and being played.We moved into an apartment with paper thin wall so I felt bad playing them. I had a pet rat at the time so I didn't want to sell them and buy an electronic one (for fear of the roddents weird appetite with cables ).I should have just sold them right then, and not 6 or 7 years later since the price of my drum kit plummeted meanwhile.And it took a lot of room during that time!Finally sold them and must have recouped close to 50% of what I had paid.

I haven't spent money on this... yet... but has anyone seen one of those "breakfast stations" that combines a coffee maker, a hot plate to make eggs, and a toaster oven? I want to know if those really work. Its multi-tasking, yet still specific, nature mesmerizes me.

I saw one on The Price is Right just yesterday (I think)!! I thought it was really cool. But then again, I ALMOST bought this. I just couldn't pull the darn trigger though. And I don't particularly like toast. Unless it's Rye toast in which case it would kind of make this moot since you wouldn't be able to see the logo on rye toast I don't think. The husband and dog like regular white toast though - but I just couldn't justify a husband/dog speciality toaster.

I haven't spent money on this... yet... but has anyone seen one of those "breakfast stations" that combines a coffee maker, a hot plate to make eggs, and a toaster oven? I want to know if those really work. Its multi-tasking, yet still specific, nature mesmerizes me.

To me, this kind of thing is actually worse than a one-use item. Because... when the coffee maker part of it breaks (for example), you gotta buy a new coffee maker but your still stuck holding on to the old broken one since it's connected to the toaster oven & hot plate. Or you replace all three when one breaks which is pretty wasteful.

I was thinking the same thing. If one thing it breaks, more than likely you can't fix it, so your're stuck, and have to buy a single use item to replace that part.